Belinda Luscombe

Belinda Luscombe, an editor-at-large of TIME, writes about the science, economy and insanity of relationships—those conducted at home, work or in cyberspace. Since lots of movies, books and TV shows and gossip are about the same thing, she also writes about those. Luscombe has worked at TIME since 1995, after moving to New York City from Sydney.

Articles from Contributor

Why aren’t there more women math professors? Or engineering professors, or physics professors, or professors of computer science or economics? Why aren’t there more women tech entrepreneurs? If a field involves lots of numbers, …

Mostly, the conversation that dare not speak its name, the most excruciating 25 minutes of either a parent or an offspring’s life, The Talk, is left to Mom. Make lunch, do laundry, figure out where the thing is that goes on that …

Kirk Kerkorian agreed on Oct. 22 to pay $100,000 month in child support, which sounds like a lot, although it’s not even $140 an hour. While Kerkorian is—forgive the business jargon—feculently, filthily rich, that’s still a …

A fascinating, if wonky, story in this month’s Wired looks at an unexpected side benefit that breast enhancement may have wrought. It turns out that boobs, apart from being a source of nourishment for the young and a good way to …

Virginia Thomas has done the nation a great service. In calling up Anita Hill, now a Brandeis law professor whose calm but graphic accusations of sexual harassment put the eeew in Clarence Thomas’s Seeewpreme Court confirmation …

Some of history’s great thinkers, from Winnie the Pooh to Buzz Lightyear, have proved empirically that people can get very attached to their toys. But a former investment banker in France has taken this affection to a new level: …

It’s possible, with some effort, to believe that Tyra Banks imagines her talk show to be as uplifting and current as a new Victoria’s Secret bra — “Tomorrow on Tyra: Women Who Escaped the Sex Industry!” It’s also possible to …

The number of neglected or abused children dying in Los Angeles, even after the county’s Department of Children and Family Services has become involved in their cases, is on the rise, according to confidential documents seen by …

One of the big unsolved mysteries in evolutionary theory is why creatures are altruistic. Selflessness doesn’t seem to be one of those qualities that ensure survival of a bloodline, since, by definition, it means acting against oneself.

Another day, another study on whether women who work are jeopardizing their children’s well-being. According to a review of 50 years of research on the subject, kids whose moms went back to work before the kids were 3 years old …

A Northern Irish High Court judge has declined to award damages to a family who sued a health trust that provided in vitro fertilization (IVF) services for using the wrong sperm and causing their two children to be born darker …

You know that situation where a guy in a bar just keeps hitting on a woman who everyone else can tell is just not interested? Awkward. Turns out it may be that he just doesn’t remember what her body language has already said.